Windows 10 Mobile is finally available for older Windows devices running Windows Phone 8.1 OS.
Photo Credit : neowin.net
Windows 10 Mobile is here at last for older Windows phone devices after months of waiting and rescheduling of Microsoft’s big update for mobile with respect to the one Windows ecosystem. Windows 10 mobile has been available officially since the release of the new devices, that come preinstalled with them.
Microsoft has been working to make this upgrade available to most if not all existing windows phone 8 and 8.1 devices, probably a reason for the delay.
The phones and devices list released by Microsoft, upgradeable to Windows 10 mobile are;
Lumia 1520
Lumia 930
Lumia 640
Lumia 640XL
Lumia 730
Lumia 735
Lumia 830
Lumia 532
Lumia 535
Lumia 540
Lumia 635 1GB
Lumia 636 1GB
Lumia 638 1GB
Lumia 430
Lumia 435
BLU Win HD w510u
BLU Win HD LTE x150q
MCJ Madosma Q501
Microsoft recommends that you download the UPGRADE ADVISOR app (for free, from store). This app will check on your hardware and storage and make sure you are set and ready for the upgrade installation. What this also means is that you’ll need to be running the upgradeable windows phone version of 8.1 GDR1 QFE8 or later.
Windows 10 Mobile upgrade is an OTA (over-the-air) update as such you’ll need to connect to a wifi for this. The upgrade size could be at least 1.4 GB or more depending on your device.
Even if you meet all requirements Microsoft still has a word of advise for you if you don’t see the update immediately,
The availability of Windows 10 Mobile as an upgrade for existing Windows Phone 8.1 devices varies by device manufacturer, device model, country or region, mobile operator or service provider, hardware limitations and other factors.
So you what do I do if I joined the Windows Insiders and i’m already running the latest Windows 10 Mobile preview builds? Well you are actually up to date. If you don’t want to run preview builds any longer switch to the production flight and at the next update you’ll be set to normal. If you want to continue with the preview nothing changes for you.
If you do the upgrade and want to get back into the insider preview builds, you might have to check from this list if your device has been added.
Depending on your device there might be some features that will go missing and there are some other requirements for certain features to function. Microsoft lists them here;
Feature deprecation
When you install the Windows 10 upgrade, some features currently on your device will be modified or removed, including the following:
Notifications for missed calls, messages and emails on contact tiles is not supported at the time of Windows 10 Mobile release.
Me Tile and Me Card are no longer supported.
Cortana can no longer search for apps, settings, email, text messages, contacts and QR Codes on the device and can no longer open apps through voice commands.
“Hey Cortana” is no longer available on some upgraded devices.
Group tiles can no longer be used to receive social networking status updates.
Indoor Maps are no longer available for some locations.
Certain enterprise features, including Data Protection Under Lock, are not available. Please contact your Microsoft Volume Licensing representative for more information.
At time of Windows 10 Mobile release Outlook Mail app cannot open .EML attachments.
The Outlook Calendar app does not support Tasks.
The MDM functionality to prevent saving and sharing Office documents is not supported.
Additional requirements to use certain features
Cortana is only currently available on Windows 10 for the United States, United Kingdom, China, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, India, Canada (English), Australia, and Japan.
Speech-to-text is only currently available on Windows 10 in the United States (English), United Kingdom (English), China (Simplified Chinese), France (French), Italy (Italian), Spain (Spanish), Germany (German), Canada (English), Australia (English), India (English) and Japan (Japanese).
Speech recognition, including Cortana, will vary by device.
At launch, Windows Hello is limited to selected premium phones and requires specialised hardware, including illuminated infrared camera sensor for facial recognition or a fingerprint reader that supports the Window Biometric Framework. To check for device compatibility and other important information, visit your device manufacturer’s website.
Continuum for phones will be limited to selected premium phones. Feature requires external monitor with DisplayPort, HDMI connector or compatible adaptor, and accessories that are compatible with Continuum for phones. All sold separately. App availability and experience vary by device and market.
Office 365 subscription required for some Office features.
Music and video streaming through Groove Music (formerly Xbox Music) or Films & TV apps is not available in all regions. For the most up-to-date list of regions, please go to the Xbox on Windows website.
Skype available only in select countries and regions. Calling to select countries and regions only. Excludes special, premium and non-geographic numbers. For details, visit the Office FAQ page
Microsoft account required for some features.
Let us know if you are receiving or aren’t noticing the update and what device you are using.
Microsoft’s devices division has announced a new Windows 10 mobile smartphone, the Lumia 650. This device comes from a lot of feedback from the business/enterprise community and windows fans.
The device comes in two colors, matte black and matte white, weighing 122 grams. Has an 5” OLED crisp display, features a highly polished aluminum frame, which gives it a premium feel. It comes with a 5 MP wide-angle, front-facing camera and an 8MP rear-facing camera which includes options for rich capture and living images. It runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212, Quad-core 1.3 GHz processor, has 1 GB Ram and 16 GB internal storage. You also get a removable 2000 mAh battery and has support for expandable storage up to 200 GB.
Check out the various side views of this sleek device.
Pour tout les informations sur le nouveau Lumia 650 en Français, voir le video ci-dessous.
What do you think of Microsoft’s latest business targeted smartphone, tell us.
Microsoft Nigeria went out of it’s way to show love during the season of love with the Act of Kindness program.
The employees of Microsoft Nigeria spent a whole day with students of the Jinadu Anglican Primary School, Ikoyi, Lagos where they taught students and painted the school walls.
The team believes Microsoft’s goal is to enable, empower and inspire people and organizations to do more and that was exactly what they set out to do with their Act of Kindness during the valentine season of love.
Microsoft Nigeria partnered with United For Education Foundation and TechCity to show love. Microsoft’s partnership with United for Education Foundation’s, Teach for Change program has already seen them provide volunteers for four other schools in Lagos State.
Kabelo Makwane, Managing Director at Microsoft Nigeria said the children have been touched and we’ve given them a new sense of perspective and they’ll one day do great things and achieve more.
At Microsoft Nigeria we asked how can we spend more time with this children and show them love and we thought this is it. – Olusen Adenuga, MSD Global Mkt. Operations
You can check out more photos from of the event by searching the hashtag #ActOfKindnessMicrosoft on social media.
Did you participate in the Act of Kindness or did you show any kind of Microsoft kindness this valentines day, kindly share with us in the comments.
Nigeria has officially seen the launch of Microsoft mobile’s latest flagship the Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 950.
The two flagships devices were announced sometime back and have been making their way to various markets around the world. The new devices run Windows 10 mobile and shares the same code base as Windows 10 PC.
Microsoft mobile Nigeria unveiled the Lumia 950 and 950 XL devices at a media roundtable held February 4th, 2016 at the Civic Towers, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Joseph Umunakwe, Microsoft Mobile Devices and Services General Manager West, East and Central Africa, at the event spoke about Microsoft’s commitment to empowering every individual and organization on the planet to achieve more.
“The Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL deliver a familiar and consistent experience that extends across your Windows devices from key apps like Office built-in to provide access to all your stuff via OneDrive and the cloud.”
Olumide Balogun, Head of Marketing Microsoft Mobile Devices and Services Nigeria and Ghana, stated the Lumia 950/950XL drives seamless experiences from productivity, security, usability and availability. He said,
“Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL provide stunning displays, the latest in processing power, and improved battery life and quick charging. The Continuum for phones feature combined with the Microsoft Display Dock enables you to connect the phones to a monitor, mouse and keyboard and work like a PC.”
The Lumia 950 and 950 XL are currently selling at authorized Microsoft devices partner retail outlets and available on leading online stores.
WhatsApp Web is finally available to Microsoft Edge browser users.
Microsoft Edge is the official browser that comes pre-installed in Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile operating system. It’s also the browser that officially replaced Internet Explorer (still available in windows 10).
WhatsApp Web was introduced sometime in January 2015 as a web client that mirrors a persons chat account from your phone to your personal computer. This was introduced to provide a richer communication experience to users of WhatsApp. WhatsApp Web isn’t a different chat account or platform. It’s the same WhatsApp account setup on your phone that gets synchronized and mirrored to the PC, so you have the same information.
But up until now it wasn’t usable on Microsoft Edge browsers and still doesn’t support any Internet Explorer version.
How do you go about this?
Minimum requirements to enjoy WhatsApp Web
You need to have an active WhatsApp account on your phone.
You need to have a stable internet connection on both your phone and your computer.
You need to use the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Opera or Safari as your web browser on your computer.
On Windows Phone: under Chats go to Menu > WhatsApp Web.
On Android: in the Chats screen > Menu > WhatsApp Web.
On iPhone: go to Settings > WhatsApp Web.
On BlackBerry: go to Chats > Menu > WhatsApp Web. (On BlackBerry 10: Swipe down from top of the screen )
Scan the QR Code on your computer screen from your phone with your camera.
From your phone, navigate to WhatsApp Web to view your logged in computers or to logout from an active chat session.
Is this an added bonus to you?, because honestly I’ve been looking forward to this as I’ve decided to try out only Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer on a PC as only browsers. There have been some limitations as expected but with more extensions expected to be available in the next major Update aka “RedStone”, I guess I wouldn’t have much to worry about.
